


Ghost Blade

by bluemisfortune



Series: ROAN AU [5]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-07 11:36:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11058135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluemisfortune/pseuds/bluemisfortune
Summary: Kaito didn't believe in ghosts, but if they were real Chris might stop hating him.





	Ghost Blade

**Author's Note:**

> Right the way to the start again and everyone is their canon age.

 Some nights, Kaito is sure he wakes up to see Leo standing at the foot of his bed. 

 

 Tonight is one of those nights. In the darkness, Leo stands there, helmet at his side, glaring down at him and smiling cruelly. Leo smiles down at him through wild hair and narrowed eyes. This is the longest Kaito has seen the illusion in the darkness.

 “Leo?”

 “Kaito.”

 Kaito sits up slowly. It’s been two years. Now eighteen, Kaito has been trying to shake Leo’s death for years. Now, the night before the second festival, Leo is standing here once more.

 “I’m sorry, Leo,” Kaito whispers, for the first time able to talk to Leo’s ghost. He’s never believed in ghosts. He’s probably still asleep and this is just his own guilt. If there’s going to be a ghost anywhere, it’ll be in Chris’ creepy mansion. Even so, Kaito doesn’t want too keep feeling this guilt. “I don’t know how to make things right. I don’t know how to stop this guilt. I should have stayed with you. I should never have let you go off on your own-”

 “I hate you,” Leo says. 

 

 Something flashes in his hand and Kaito jerks back. His sabre. The blade is leveled at Kaito’s throat and he swallows thickly. He won’t back down. It hurts to hear Leo saying he hates him when he’s always loved Leo as much as any of his family. 

  _As much as Thomas,_ says a cruel voice in the back of his mind, _and look how that went._

 But Kaito doesn’t back down. It’s just a dream. And even if it isn’t, if Leo hates him so much Kaito’s life is the only penance, then so be it. If that’s what it takes to let Leo’s soul rest peacefully, Kaito would willingly give him his life.

 “You’re not afraid?”

 “If you hate me, then have your payment. I failed you. I let you die. If that’s what you need. Do it.”

 Leo plunges his blade forward and Kaito closes his eyes. If Leo wants his life, that’s alright. Haruto will be looked after. He trusts Chris, Droite and Guache with that. His life is up for sacrifice, if he can let Leo rest.

 “I’m sorry, Leo.”

 

 When Kaito wakes, light is seeping around the curtains. There’s no sign of Leo. And he’s still alive. Just another dream. Another stupid dream before the festival celebrating his dearest friend’s death at the hands of his own younger brother.

 Kaito sits up slowly, letting out a slow breath. This is the last thing he needs today. 

 A dark patch catches his eye and Kaito turns slightly, fingers brushing the knick in the wood. Impossible. He trails his fingertips along the gouge. Slender and long. Buried right next to where he would have been sitting last night. The unmistakable mark of a sabre being thrust into the wooden headboard. 

 “Leo…?”

 

 “Your highness?” 

 Kaito jerks around, staring at Chris in the doorway. His blood runs cold at the hatred in Chris’ eyes. It’s faded over the past two years, but it’s still there, burning beneath the surface in those beautiful blue eyes Kaito had once loved so much. Kaito has long since accepted that since Thomas’ death any childish romance that he once existed between him and Chris could never go any further. Chris’ anger and pain still burned too raw.

 “Are you alright, your highness?”

 “You can still call me Kaito, Chris.” 

 “You seem distressed, your highness.” Kaito flinches at Chris' insistence. “Is everything alright?”

 “I… I thought I dreamed of Leo last night,” Kaito says after a moment. “I thought it was a dream, but this is undoubtedly a mark where a sabre went in.”

 “Assassination attempts are nothing new,” Chris replies. “And Photon Leo is long dead.”

 “Chris, you know if I could have-”

 “You did what his majesty asked of you,” he says. “You played your role perfectly. You truly are his son, aren’t you? Self preservation at all costs. Power and glory and any rival to your position be wary.”

 “None of this was on purpose, Chris! I didn’t set this up! How could you even say that?! You of all people should know me better than that. I made a mistake, I know that, but you can’t honestly think I did this on purpose.”

 “You let him die.”

 “He was my little brother, Chris-”

 “Thomas was _my_ little brother!” Chris yells. 

 

 Kaito nods slightly. Of course. Kaito and Thomas might have been raised side by side as brothers, but it was Arclight blood that ran through his veins. He was Thomas Arclight in his heart, no matter what name he was forced to bear, and Christopher Arclight was the older brother who truly grieved for him. Kaito had never really felt anything more than numbness for Thomas’ death. He was a murderer. A Number. He had stolen Kaito’s most precious friend from him. It had knocked the sense out of him and chilled him to the core. He couldn’t grieve like Chris did. 

 “You really think I would have set this up and lost what was most dear to me, just to have a stronger position, Chris?”

 “I don’t know, Kaito! All I know is Thomas is dead and you could have saved him! I lost everything to you and for years I only had Thomas to hold on to. My one hope. My one tiny ray of light. The one mercy that bastard king allowed me.  _ My _ Thomas. And you took him from me too!”

 

 Kaito stares up at Chris for a moment before nodding slowly. “Thomas was found guilty and sentenced through trial. I did nothing wrong and I did nothing against you. I made a mistake and it cost lives but I did nothing malicious against you or your family, Chris. I can only hope you realise that sometime soon.”

 “His majesty wants you to come to breakfast,” Chris says, turning away and lowering his viel. His voice is even and calm and cold and makes Kaito emptier than ever. “I’m sure you’ve got a busy schedule for the festival.”

 “Chris-”

 The door slams and Kaito sighs, glancing down at the sabre mark once more. _Someone_ had been in his room with a sabre. 


End file.
